Plainfield police charge three with faking kidnapping

Published July 09. 2013 2:00PM | Updated July 09. 2013 2:21PM

Plainfield - Police arrested three Windham County residents Tuesday for allegedly staging a prank kidnapping that involved duct taping a 19-year-old woman, placing her in the trunk of a car and speeding off in front of witnesses.

The girl in the trunk was actually a participant in the ill-conceived hoax that Plainfield police say put lives in danger.

The incident occurred at 7 a.m., shortly after police were clearing the scene of an armed standoff on Cornell Road. Police fielded two separate reports that a female had been duct taped and placed in the trunk of a dark-colored Nissan with North Carolina plates. The incident occurred on South Main Street in the Moosup section of town, near a Cumberland Farms.

Eyewitnesses reported the car leaving at a high rate of speed traveling southbound on South Main Street with a woman in the trunk. Police said they swarmed the Moosup area and found the vehicle behind the residence of 46 Aldrich Ave.

Police said that through investigation they learned the three men, ranging in age from 19 to 21, had staged the event and had placed the teen in the trunk in front of witnesses so witnesses would call police and report a kidnapping.

Free on bond, all three are scheduled to appear July 22 at Danielson Superior Court.

“The Plainfield Police Department would like to remind those individuals who conduct pranks similar to this not only endanger the public but also the police officers that are responding to the scene. This prank put a lot of lives in danger,” Police said in a notice on their website.